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Diamond Select Toys Celebrates 25 Years of The Nightmare Before Christmas with a special Minimates Box Set.

Another Spooky Sunday…

Halloween and miniature figures. Two things I really love. So for this Spooky Sunday installment just before Samhain here’s some personal photography of Diamond Select Toys’ just released The Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween Town Minimates box set. The Disney/Tim Burton film is celebrating its 25<sup>th</sup> year, and we’ve already given you a look at DST’s special Silver Anniversary Dolls earlier in the season.

The Town Square Set includes new versions of Jack Skellington, Sally Rag Doll and Mayor (with megaphone) Minimates. The Harlequin Demon and Gargoyle Fountain are exclusive to the set. All designed by Barry Bradfield. I’m particularly enamored with the fountain, it’s my favorite set piece in the film.

The awesome Harlequin Demon and Town Square Fountain are exclusive to this Minimates box set.

Bits and Pieces…
I’m always impressed with the amount of detail and articulation in these wonderful little figures. Rag Doll Sally’s dress is a patchwork of varied prints and The Mayor’s head can be turned to reveal a shocking countenance. Jack himself comes with three separate noggins to change his attitude.

The Gang’s All Here.

SkeletonPete Says…
My tabletop photo session was based around a Caligariesque cityscape I cutout of black construction paper. That was placed in front of a Bob Ross style painting my wife created at a recent “Paint and Sip” party. A plastic pencil case, miniature LED lights and a few other household items stood in for proper props. Hope you like the result.

Andy Biersack, member of the Black Veil Brides, was joined by artist Eryk Donovan at mid-town Manhattan’s Booth Gallery for an unveiling of the cover art for Biersack’s upcoming graphic novel The Ghost of Ohio. The project will be released in conjunction with Biersack’s next album in his persona of Andy Black which is set for 2019.

The intimate gathering took place the evening before a New York Comic Con panel discussion called From the Stage to the Page: Musicians Creating Comics which highlighted the emergence of musical artists into the graphic arts and scripting scene. Biersack was a featured panelist along with Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC), Canadian alt-pop artist Lights, and electronic dance music meister Steve Aioki, all of whom have comic books either out or soon to be released.

It’s not such a stretch for people who regularly create your favorite songs to take their lyrical ideas into the visual domain, and many are visual artists in their own right. By his own account Biersack first came to rock music via comics. “The truth is that I would never have discovered my love of rock music without my passion for comic books and characters like Batman and Spawn, which ultimately lead me to larger than life bands like KISS and The Misfits. To be able to combine my love of the graphic novel medium with a concept record is a dream come true and something I have wanted to do for many years” So this Z2 Comics collaboration seems the perfect fit as Biersack is joined by writer Scott Tuft, known for his work on Swamp Thing, while artist Donovan is noted for his illustration of Constantine and Batman.

Z2 Comics has previously partnered with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, jazz trumpeter Dave Chisholm and DJ Paul Okenfold. Their most recent collab is with Japan’s BABYMETAL for their origin myth Apochrypha: the Legend of BABYMETAL. The deluxe edition is open for worldwide pre-order and expected to ship in December 2018.

SkeletonPete Says…
I’ll assume, based on his most recent single, a cover of Sinatra theme song My Way, which includes home video of the singer in preteen performances, that Andy is in an auto-biographical/nostalgic mode. Considering his description of the story as a “tale of loneliness, redemption, and strength” that “takes place in southwestern Ohio and spans across historical eras from the 1800’s to modern day,” The Ghost of Ohio promises to fit securely into the sense-of-place category most recently highlighted in the PBS The Great American Read episode called Who Am I? For me it brings to mind the mid-western ambiance of Ray Bradbury stories like Something Wicked this Way Comes, and my season favorite The Halloween Tree.

Quite appropriately, libations for the evening were highlighted by another form of rock n roll pairing, Iron MaidenTrooper Beer, emblazoned with the band’s menacing mascot “Eddie.” A hearty quaff of this Robinson’s Brewery creation will be appreciated by fans of British stalwarts like Newcastle Nut Brown Ale and Boddingtons. I’m happy to have another fave to add to my short list of go-to brews.

The 2018 Witching Season opens with an announcement from Diamond Select Toys heralding their partnership with the Castlevania franchise. The toy and action figure stalwart will mine over 20 years of the Konami video game’s history to bring figural renditions of the characters to major retailers and local comic shops.

Expect DST to apply it’s full range of styles from Select level articulated figures and Gallery PVC dioramas through our favorites, the Mini-mates. It’ll be interesting to see how the anime look of the characters is translated to 3d collectibles.

Castlevania moved from gaming platform to animation series in July of 2017 when Netflix aired a four part first season scripted by Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Red). Season two will premier on October 26 with double the number of episodes. We’ve learned that a third season has already been given the go ahead by the streaming service.

Diamond Select Toys’ president Chuck Terceira says, “I’m personally a fan of the show…” “The Castlevania franchise has a rich, deep history, and the new animated series takes all of it to a new, vibrant, visually superb level… I can’t wait to help execute some of its amazing character designs in 3-D.”

Expect DST figures of the Voivod of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes (Dracula), his rebellious son Adrian, vampire hunter Trevor Belmont and others, to hit shelves in 2019.

DST’s 25th Anniversary A Nightmare Before Christmas 10 inch figures.

Silver Skells…
Can’t wait until next year for the goodies? Fear not DST has plenty of Halloween hoopla to offer with their collection commemorating the Silver Anniversary of Tim Burton‘s A Nightmare Before Christmas figures. These 10 inch display quality pieces are fully articulated for posing, garbed in real fabric, and accessorized specifically to character. The series is comprised of Jack Skellington ( w/ podium ), Sally ( w/ oven and caldron) The Mayor (w/ telescope) and – my favorite – The Pumpkin King (w/ sign and torch). Each is housed in a coffin-shaped window box.

A little later in the season we’ll be treated to Nightmare Before Christmas Series 6 action figure sets. The series consists of 3 separate multi-packs: Sally, Mummy Boy and Hanging Tree – Clown and Undersea Gal – Harlequin and Devil. Combined with Series 5 you can complete the diorama that includes the gift-making table. Expect those to be available on December 6.

The Toy Association’s PlaySafe website has a new look and lots of valuable information.

Time Flies, even without a Tardis…
It’s hard to believe we’re already kicking off our gifting season coverage thanks to The Toy Insider’s Holiday of Play event yesterday and the Toys, Tots, Pets and More (TTPM) next week. Of course we’re really excited to share what’s in store for you and your children and we’ll be reporting on what we found most interesting, but before the deluge of eye dazzling dollies begins we’d like to alert you to some valuable resources available from The Toy Association, Inc.Read the rest of this entry »